Shock exit lowers the value of rugby tickets

Oct 2 2007 by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail

Thousands of Welsh fans are facing huge bills for trips to the quarter-final that never was.

Scores of Welsh fans had paid exorbitant sums for flights and accommodation in the expectation that Wales would be playing South Africa in World Cup Quarter-Final 3 in Marseille on October 7.

But Wales’ shock exit at the hands of Fiji has left thousands of fans high and dry, unable to get refunds for their hotel reservations and plane tickets.

Those supporters who got their tickets through Welsh clubs will get refunds, but those who bought tickets on general sale have the choice of going to a match in which they have no partisan interest, or seeking to offload them at short notice.

Some are giving their tickets away, while many, reluctant to lose money on non-refundable and vastly inflated flight and accommodation costs, were still aiming to travel to quarter-final destination Marseille and make the best of a bad situation.

But all had bought their tickets for what should have been Wales’ showdown with South Africa on Sunday months in advance, having not given a moment’s thought to the possibility that Wales would not be involved.

Jim Strachan, of Cardiff-based Travel City, which specialises in sport and holiday packages, said the hundreds of Welsh fans who had booked with his firm had paid at least £1,000 each.

Steve Reynolds, from Treorchy, spent £2,500 on supporter ticket packages, flights and accommodation for himself and his father.

“Like many Welsh fans I’m still in shock. I bought two country supporter ticket packages from the IRB costing over £1,600 in total. The quarter- and semi-final tickets are only valid if your country gets that far and so I should be able to get a refund for these but the air tickets and hotel costs for Marseille are non-refundable and they were over £900.

“So I have a choice, stay at home and watch the matches on television and see the £900 wasted or travel and spend even more money trying to get tickets for England v Australia or South Africa v Fiji,” the 42-year-old said. “We were let down, I still can’t believe that it’s true.”

Phil Richardson, 33, an employment adviser from Cardiff, spent £150 on his flight, £100 on his ticket and shared the cost of a £2,000 villa with eight friends.

“We have got tickets to the game and find ourselves faced with the unimaginable – a ticket to the quarter-finals without Wales. We never even contemplated this.

“We are still going ahead with the trip but now we will be going as Fiji supporters. We always go to games in fancy dress. This time instead of going as miners, we will be going in grass skirts.”

Griff Leader, 35, an account director from Cardiff living in London, said he would eventually get back the £280 he spent on tickets, and has settled on a long weekend in Nice instead of Marseille, having spent £200 on his flight.

“I don’t really fancy watching those two teams battling for a semi-final place when we should have beaten both,” said Mr Leader, who had also bought a semi-final ticket in the belief that Wales would have faced and beaten England in the quarter-final.

“Had we followed the path of what was meant to happen, we stood a good chance,” he said. “Our group was one of the easiest and I expected a spirited performance against Australia.

“There is no way we should lose to a side like Fiji two years after being the best team in the Northern Hemisphere. It makes 2005 look like a fluke.”

Unwanted tickets were last night starting to appear on eBay, attracting bids of just £50. By contrast, two tickets for the New Zealand quarter-final in Cardiff were going for £175.

But fans now staying at home have lost out on travel and accommodation arrangements. While few will be buying flights this week, prices of flights between the UK and France this weekend have soared, with so-called budget airline EasyJet last night charging £708 for a Gatwick-Marseille return. British Airways had the same flight for £554, and Ryanair wanted £341 for a Stansted-to-Marseille flight.